BEN FUCHSEN: Executive Producer, Board Member

Why free art for all?

Not enough people say it: art makes life better. We might all believe it, but we don’t say it often enough. And saying it is the first step toward actually doing it. And we don’t say it because we hardly think about it – life is busy! Who has time for art? Besides, it costs too much money.

Well, Oracle is changing that. We are working hard to make it possible for everyone to live a better life full of art. And we are doing it as a Service to the People. We are NOT treating it like a commodity. We are making sure everyone everywhere has an equal chance to fall in love with art. Because we hope they will feel more fulfilled by experiencing some art.

The researchers responsible for this amazing book say it like this: We make art because we believe it makes better human beings. We make art because we believe it makes being human better.

Art is the best part of being human, and it makes the worst parts of being human at least a little more understandable. Join Oracle. Let’s make art together.

Bio

As Executive Producer, Ben oversees all of Oracle’s programming and development, including mainstage productions, co-productions, outreach and grant writing. He implemented Oracle’s transition to Public Access Theatre in 2010, produced the award-winning production of Brecht’s THE MOTHER (Jeff Award for Best Production, Best Ensemble), and led the campaign to help Oracle win the prestigious Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theater Award in 2014. Ben served as Artistic Director from 2008 to 2011. For Oracle, he directed TAPE, THE CASTLE, BLOOD WEDDING, THE MAIDS, ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST – to name a few. In August 2011, Ben led a group of Oracle artists to Minsk, Belarus to devise a new work which premiered in Prague, and became the first American involvement in the Belaya Vezha Theatre Festival in Brest, Belarus. Ben studied directing, teaching, and philosophy and received a BFA in Theatre Directing from Millikin University.